Safety, simplicity and flexibility with

ESFR-SIMPLE

Business Coaching

The EU-funded ESFR-SIMPLE project aims to improve the safety of the European Sodium Fast Reactor through innovative monitoring, power level flexibility and experimental research.

Coordinated by the CEA, the ESFR-SIMPLE project brings together 16 partners that will collaborate over the course of 48 months to demonstrate the ability of nuclear reactors to meet societal needs.

Integrating future nuclear reactors into European energy systems requires evidence that the reactors in question are safe and meet future societal needs. In line with the ESNII roadmap, the ESFR-SIMPLE project aims to improve the safety and economic aspects of the European Sodium Fast Reactor (ESFR) through the implementation of innovative technologies.

More specifically, the project partners will develop a novel Small Modular Reactor (SMR) version of the ESFR. This ESFR-SMR will be safer, simpler, and more economic while providing an option for flexible integration into the electrical grid as well as energy storage. In addition, concepts and measures developed in the ESFR-SMART project will be studied to eliminate several safety-critical scenarios, evaluated in experiments and quantified by modelling analysis.

Research areas

The project aims to lay solid foundations in three research areas

Sodium Fast Reactors

Maintaining and strengthening European knowledge and skills on SFRs using European facilities and the expertise of the consortium.

Reactor Design

Using the knowledge acquired in recent years to propose a reactor design that meets the needs of new and evolving markets.

Digital Technologies

Demonstrating the advantages of new digital technologies to provide real-time operational data processing of future reactors.

Objectives

To design a simpler, more flexible and safer reactor, the project has set five objectives

1

Rethink a simpler, more cost-competitive ESFR design that is safe and sustainable in terms of resources.

2

Assess the impact of alternative technologies, such as metallic fuel and compact secondary system design, on safety and cost-competitiveness.

3

Propose, develop and assess advanced methods for monitoring and processing operational data using artificial intelligence.

4

Produce new experimental data in order to facilitate the qualification of innovative components, such as expansion bellows, core catcher and thermos-electric pumps.

5

Ensure that the knowledge generated in the project is shared not only among the consortium institutions, but also with a range of EU and international stakeholders.
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